Viewed in
2010
Formats
Netflix streaming (Xbox 360)
Premise
Buster Keaton stars in his classic about a Confederate train engineer who tries to retrieve his stolen locomotive from Union soldiers.
Loved
Keaton's hilarious/cool stunts.
Thoughts
Since this was my first Keaton film, I finally got to see what everyone was talking about how Jackie Chan was my generation's version of him.
The physical humor and stunts were fantastic and amazing. Part of what made these moments great was because we know they did not have stunt doubles, pads, or editing to help sell the illusion. To have the guts and preparation to make the majority of chases to be on moving trains was sheer madness/genius. Even if I did not think about how it was technically executed, they were simply funny, which was good enough reason to watch it.
I would not call it a flaw, but it was rather curious that they chose the Confederates to be protagonists in this film. I guess sixty years is enough time to make comedy out of the American Civil War.
What baffled me more was which version I was watching. The film I watched was only 77 minutes long, but IMDB claims this was 107 minutes. Also, I was unsure if the score and "sound effects" were from the original or not.
Even with all the hype, this film delivered. It was not just must-see for historical impact, it was must-see because it was very funny and memorable.
What I would change
Nothing.
